For Steve Newell, the Hall of Fame honors just keep coming his way

Steve Newell wlll be inducted into the Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame on Feb. 1.Dave Roback / The Republican

Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of stories on people who are being honored by the Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame at its Feb. 1 banquet.

Steve Newell, Hall of Famer.

No, make that Steve Newell, double Hall of Famer.

So it goes for this former University of Massachusetts star, now 66 years old and living in East Longmeadow, his hometown. He's retired from a career in food service at Springfield College.

On Nov. 19, he was inducted into the Cape Cod League Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2017. A month later, he got the news that he has been elected to the Western Massachusetts Baseball Hall of Fame. As part of its Class of 2018, he will be enshrined Feb. 1.

"The Cape Cod thing came out of the blue, something like 44 years after I played there, " he said. "Then along comes a call from the Western Mass. Hall of Fame people. That's quite an honor, when you think about the others being inducted."

In his 1973 season at UMass, Newell hit .374 and made Collegiate Baseball Magazine's All-America team. It was a good year for coach Dick Bergquist's Minutemen - a 21-9-1 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament.

"I believe Steve is the only UMass player to be selected to the first team," Bergquist said. "He had such a great season, and it started on our spring trip to the Cal-Riverside tournament."

UMass opponents there included Vanderbilt, Arizona State, Southern Cal, Hawaii, Stanford, and Washington State as well as Cal-Riverside. Against that field, Newell made the all-tournament team.

"It was great playing for coach Bergquist at UMass," Newell said. "I followed my brother Chuck there. We had a little dynasty going."

That summer, Newell had the opportunity to play for Wareham in the Cape Cod League, which was loaded with talent from the nation's leading Division I programs. Against that competition, he hit .340, led the league with 11 home runs and won the Most Valuable Player award.

After UMass, Newell played three seasons in the Montreal Expos farm system. He was released in the fall of 1975.

"They had me catching that season, and I hurt my hand sliding into second base. Couldn't get a good grip on the bat after that. I guess they looked at my stats, looked at a guy named Gary Carter coming along behind me in the system, and decided to let me go," he said.

Carter, of course, went on to star with the Expos and New York Mets on his way to enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York.

Along with his starry years at East Longmeadow High School, UMass and on the Cape, Newell's baseball life included 24 seasons as a heavy hitter in the Tri-County League. Most of that came with a core of teammates who played together since childhood.

"Basically, we started when we were 6 years old, and just kept playing until 1999," he said.

Newell began playing Tri-County ball on the day of his high school graduation.

"Right after the ceremony, I went to Blunt Park to play a Tri-County game with Oliver Auto Body," he said.

That was the summer of 1970, when Oliver had a loaded lineup that included Jack and Bob Trinceri, Danny Thomas, Ronnie Knowe, Bob Houghten, Danny Thomas, Chuck Newell, John Woods and Frank Capuano (father of 2018 inductee Chris Capuano).

"Al Hedin was our manager, and Ned Boyajy was Tri-County president. That was a great year for the league, and for us - we beat the Chicopee Falls Tigers in the finals," Newell recalled.

"I played Tri-County against Steve for 20 years, and with him for the last three years of my time in the league," said Jim Bedard, a former pitcher for Springfield Tech and UMass.

"As a pitcher, it was much better being on his side. Steve was just this humble and relaxed kind of guy who could hit like crazy. In the field, you could play him as a catcher, outfielder or first baseman, and he'd do the job."

Newell's 24 seasons in the TCL - he retired at the age of 48 - ranks him right up there with such long-timers as Chris Corkum, Gene Gorajec, Wes Carr, the Bedard brothers and Karl Oliveira (who's still playing).

Yes, that's Steve Newell, double Hall of Famer. If the Tri-County League had one, he could make it three.